Eyes in the Sky

Arial Systems

by Colonel Ronald W. Wilson

Family of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

In 1988, Congress directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to
establish a Joint Program Office for unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) and develop a master plan for military UAVs. The Family of
UAVs continues to evolve based on field experimentation, Service
requirements, and operational requirements from the various
warfighting commanders in chief. All current and planned UAV
systems are multi-Service and intended to be as interoperable as
practical and connected to Service command, control,
communications, computers and intelligence architectures.

Tactical UAV. Designed to support Army maneuver brigade
and armored cavalry regiment (ACR) commanders, the Outrider
close-range Tactical UAV (T-UAV) will have a range of 200
kilometers (km) with three hours on-station time at maximum range.
It will carry a day and night electro-optical (EO) and infrared
(IR) sensor for reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance, and
target acquisition (RISTA) missions. In time, the Outrider tactical
UAV may have a moving target indicator (MTI) and synthetic aperture
radar (SAR), electronic warfare, communications and data relay, and
minefield detection capabilities. This program is currently a
two-year Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD). This
system will likely see it's first use in the 4th Infantry Division
(Mechanized) at Fort Hood, Texas, in fiscal year 1997 (FY 97). If
this ACTD transitions to a complete materiel system's fielding, the
Army will field T-UAV to all Active Component Army units by FY 02.

Hunter UAV. The short-range Hunter UAV system's design
supports Army commanders from echelons above corps (EAC) to ACR at
ranges of up to 300 km for 8 or more hours of endurance on station.
DOD canceled this program in 1995. However, one Hunter system
remains at Fort Hood, Texas, for contingency operations,
experimentation, and doctrinal development activities, and a second
system is at the DOD UAV Training Center at Fort Huachuca, Arizona,
for training purposes.

Medium-Altitude Endurance UAV. The Medium-Altitude
Endurance UAV (MAE UAV), also known as the Predator UAV, will
complete its ACTD program on 1 July 1996. The program then will
transition to the Air Force for continued development and fielding.
This system will provide Army commanders at EAC, corps, and
division with the ability to see deep, out to ranges of 300 km or
more, for missions of 24 hours duration or longer. The basic
Predator system has day-night EO/IR and SAR sensors with growth
plans for MTI, signals intelligence (SIGINT), and communications
and data-relay payloads. The Predator has successfully deployed
twice to the Balkans supporting North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
United Nations, and U.S. forces. Although the MAE UAV system will
be organic to the 11th Reconnaissance Squadron, U.S. Air Force, the
Army will have forward control elements at military intelligence
(MI) units from EAC through ACR to control the Predator air
vehicles providing direct support to Army commanders.

High-Altitude Endurance UAV. The High-Altitude Endurance
UAV (HAE UAV) is currently a three-year ACTD under sponsorship of
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Services. It
will be a strategic and joint task force (JTF)-oriented system.
Currently, there are two HAE UAV systems under development. The
Global Hawk is a conventional UAV with a range in excess of 3,000
nautical miles (approximately 5,560 km) for a duration in excess of
24 hours on station. It will have EO/IR and SAR capabilities
initially, with growth planned for a UAV communications node or
surrogate satellite, MTI, and SIGINT payloads. The Dark Star is a
low-observable UAV designed to penetrate into heavily defended
areas and conduct reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance and
target acquisition missions with an EO or SAR payload. When Global
Hawk or Dark Star missions are allocated to Army commanders, or an
Army officer is the JTF commander, the Enhanced Tactical Radar
Correlator (ETRAC) and Modernized Imagery Exploitation System
(MIES) (or successor processors) will process the imagery. If the
U.S. Air Force is the "lead" Service, the processor would be the
Contingency Airborne Reconnaissance System (CARS); if the Navy and
Marines go in first, the Joint Services Imagery Processing
System-Navy (JSIPS-N) would process the imagery. The Common Ground
Station (CGS) will display the imagery no matter which system
processed it.

Guardrail Common Sensor

The Guardrail Common Sensor (GRCS) is a corps-level airborne
signal intercept, processing, direction-finding (DF), and targeting
system. It provides continuous near-all-weather indications and
warning, situation development, tracking, and target identification
over the entire corps area of interest and beyond. The unique GRCS
method of conducting multiplatform airborne cooperative geolocation
produces a level of speed and accuracy in SIGINT targeting
unmatched by any other system in the field today. A Guardrail
system comprises 12 aircraft, and no more than 3 will fly at one
time.

Major components of the system include the Airborne Relay
Facility (ARF), the Integrated Processing Facility (IPF), and
Associated Ground Equipment (AGE). There are up to 24 operators in
the IPF who remotely control mission equipment and receivers in the
ARF (mounted in the RC-12 aircraft) through the interoperable
datalink (IDL). Use of the IDL also allows the IPF to control the
SIGINT payloads on other Service's platforms. The AGE allows GRCS
to operate in a split-based mode when aircraft launch from a remote
location and establish datalink with the IPF during flight.
Additionally, the XVIII Airborne Corps GRCS system has the
capability to deploy to a forward area while leaving its IPF in
sanctuary, reducing both the airlift requirement and the size of
the forward element.

The GRCS mission equipment consists of a communications
intelligence (COMINT) subsystem, a high-accuracy COMINT subsystem,
and an electronic intelligence (ELINT) subsystem. The basic COMINT
intercept and DF subsystem is an enhanced version of the Improved
Guardrail V (IGRV) system supplemented with the Communications
High-Accuracy Airborne Location System (CHAALS). CHAALS uses
time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) and
frequency-difference-of-arrival (FDOA) techniques to provide
precise target location with accuracies that exceed the targeting
requirements of current and planned division and corps weapons
systems (including the Army Tactical Missile System Block II). The
Advanced QUICKLOOK ELINT subsytem also includes TDOA and FDOA
targeting capability. After detection, location, and identification
of the targets, the CTT or area common user network forwards the
tactical reports to the corps analysis and control element.
Over the past twenty-four years, Guardrail systems have provided
critical U.S. SIGINT collection capability in all theaters.
Guardrail provided collection coverage along the inter-German
border from 1972 through 1990, in Korea from 1974 to the present,
and in Central America from 1983 through 1994. Two systems deployed
to Southwest Asia during Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM.
As of May 1996, one system remains in Korea, one system is in
Europe supporting Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR, the XVIII Airborne
Corps system has deployed in support of the combined exercise
Atlantic Resolve, and the fourth and final GRCS system is under
construction in California.

Airborne Reconnaissance Low

The Airborne Reconnaissance Low (ARL) system is one of the
latest MI manned aerial collection platforms. The system developed
from a Commander in Chief U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)
requirement for a manned aviation platform that could provide an
IMINT and SIGINT collection capability in SOUTHCOM. The design
requirements submitted stated that Airborne Reconnaissance Low
should support nation-building, counternarcotics, and
promote-democracy missions (now classified as stability and support
operations or operations other than war) in SOUTHCOM's area of
responsibility.

The DeHavilland of Canada Dash-7, a four-engine, turboprop,
commuter airplane was chosen as the platform for SIGINT and IMINT
collection. The Dash-7 aircraft's ability to operate out of austere
runways, its ability to carry the mission payload and its endurance
led to the Dash-7's selection. It is an extensively modified
aircraft that has a higher maximum gross weight and extended range
capability added in the ARL conversions. ARL aircraft survivability
equipment includes the AN/APR-39A(V1) radar warning receiver, the
AN/AAR-47 infrared missile warning receiver, and the M-130 flare
and chaff dispenser.

Two separate systems, the ARL-IMINT (ARL-I) and the ARL-COMINT
(ARL-C), designated the O-5A and EO-5B respectively, were initially
developed to meet SOUTHCOM's requirements. The ARL-C has a
high-frequency, very-high frequency (VHF), and ultrahigh frequency
(UHF) direction-finding (DF) capability controlled by four onboard
operator stations. Dissemination is through secure UHF
(line-of-sight and SATCOM) or VHF-frequency modulation
communications, or in the post-mission downloads of COMINT data.
ARL-I has three separate imagery systems onboard: first-generation
forward-looking infrared camera turret, a day-imaging system camera
turret, and an infrared line scanner. The system can send RS-170
video imagery via downlink to commercial off-the-shelf systems,
such as TACLINK II, which is a portable video receiver. Two onboard
operators can record information on 8-millimeter videotape or
transmit "live" to the ground forces commander.

Designated the RC-7B, the ARL-M (Multifunction) includes
upgrades to systems already installed on ARL-I and -C, and added
MTI SAR capabilities. The MTI-capable ARL-M will replace the
retiring OV-1D Mohawk side-looking airborne radar aircraft. Planned
SIGINT collection improvements include the Superhawk radio
intercept and DF system. Four onboard operators manipulate IMINT,
SIGINT, and MTI SAR data. ARL-M has growth potential to include
systems like the Communications High-Accuracy Location
System Exploitation (CHALS-X), a second-generation FLIR, the Radar
Ground Display System, and improvements to the airframe.

A comprehensive in-depth look at the ARL systems will be in a
future article in the Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin.
The article will discuss system capabilities, mission tasking,
dissemination, and more.

Colonel Ron Wilson is currently the U.S. Army Training and
Doctrine Command Systems Manager for UAVs, GRCS, and ACS. He has
held several commands including the 319th MI Battalion (Airborne)
and a variety of staff positions in intelligence and aviation
units. During Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM, he was the
XVIII Airborne Corps Deputy G2; and served as a G2 Operations
Officer during Operation JUST CAUSE. Colonel Wilson's military
education includes the Army Command and General Staff College, the
School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS) where he earned a Master
in Military Arts and Science degree, and the National War College.
He has a bachelor of science degree from Ohio State University, and
a second master of science degree in National Security Strategy
from the National Defense University. Readers can contact him at
(520) 533-1804, DSN 821-1804,and E-mail
[email protected]